You know, I look back at everything and I just think how truly lucky my wife and I are to be in the position we were in. The court battle started on August 17th, and at that point, we had Ellie for 2 of the 4 months she had been alive.
We really hoped Kate (the mother) would get help. We tried putting her through rehab and getting her the help she needed, but you just can't help those who don't want the help. The constant fighting is just exhausting, especially when it involves family. You never want to drag someone's name through the mud, especially when it is family, but there was no real choice. I am glad that Lindsay's entire family (i.e. Kate the birth mothers family as well) stood behind us. They saw the problems and knew that child had no shot if she stayed with them. Heck, when we first took Ellie in, she weighed less than when she was born. Now, we have slowly brought her up to a normal weight for her age. She has really made up for the lost time, both in physical and mental conditions.
It still deeply troubles me what they said to me. I still can't understand how you can not care about your own flesh and blood. But, it also troubles me that we have such a hard time in such an obvious situation. During the last month I only focused on our case and our situation, but now that I look back, I can't help but think of the other children around the world who could be in better, much better conditions, but can't because of the costs to do so.
Thank you guys for your support and very much for letting me vent. With moving the recent move for the new job, being in a new office with people I don't know, and being so far away from my friends, I really have had no one to talk to or vent my frustrations. While my wife and I talked regularly, she had a much harder time as she had to turn against her own sister. Thus, I had to be the strong one and carry the weight for both of us. I think I did very well, minus the few flare ups, but when he said that to my face yesterday, it took every once of my being to not just beat him into a bloody pulp.
I felt like a brand new person today knowing the fight was over.